Annual cost for Botelle School is $2.7 million

By Avice Meehan

The Board of Education (BOE) is considering a budget of $2,762,690 for the upcoming fiscal year, which represents an increase of 4.29 percent over this year’s adopted budget of $2,649,086.

The draft budget was presented at the Feb. 11 board meeting and will be subject to a vote on March 11 at the board’s regular meeting. The spending plan has already been shared with the Board of Finance, which will also meet on March 11 to review the town’s overall budget for 2025-26. 

John DeShazo, who chairs the BOE’s finance committee, said the primary drivers for the increase in the draft budget include contractual salary increases, as well as higher costs for bus transportation and health benefits. DeShazo said costs for special education are dependent on the needs of enrolled students but are expected to rise about 5 percent.

The draft budget includes $669,416 for five full-time teachers and related resources; $742,455 to support students with special educational needs, including $200,000 for a placement outside Region 7; $95,141 for library and media services, including the school’s maker space; and $264,000 to maintain Botelle School itself.

School Superintendent Mary Beth Iacobelli said the draft budget includes further expansion of the pre-kindergarten program at Botelle. That program now runs five half-days per week but would begin in the second week of school instead of mid-October.

School transportation costs are expected to rise by 13.85 percent, to $183,434, largely reflecting costs associated with transportation of students with special needs. Norfolk, along with Colebrook, recently negotiated a new, five-year contract with All Star Transportation that will keep annual increases at about five percent.

“All Star is reliable, has good communication and employs local drivers,” said
Iacobelli, when she presented the contract on Feb. 11.

DeShazo and Iacobelli, who provided a budget overview during a joint interview, emphasized the school board’s efforts to provide a high-quality education to Norfolk’s children while remaining cognizant of budgetary constraints. 

“The cost to have a school in your town is about $2.5 million a year,” said Iacobelli, who will retire at the end of the school year (see story page 7).

Norfolk’s school budget was $2,288,954 for the 2022-23 school year. Although spending to support students with special needs has nearly doubled since then, it remains well below an amount that would trigger supplemental state funding.

In addition, DeShazo noted that Norfolk receives the minimum amount of state aid available through the Education Cost Sharing formula—roughly $26,000 a year—because it is viewed as a wealthy community. The state calculates aid by dividing a town’s grand list by the number of permanent residents, and Norfolk has a high percentage of part-time residents. Colebrook, with a smaller population, receives about $400,000 per year from the State of Connecticut.